


Vital for Life

by bossxtweed



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:29:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24833857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bossxtweed/pseuds/bossxtweed
Summary: Rory, Amy, and Mels often have sleepovers, and for a few brief moments, Mels allows herself to be happy while spending time with her parents.
Relationships: Amy Pond & Rory Williams & Melody Pond, Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	Vital for Life

Brian Williams, bless him, trusts his son and his son’s friends enough to allow them to have a sleepover, even in their late teens, and the trio have taken over the living room, using couch cushions to block the entrances and blankets and pillows as bedding on the floor. His only rule: lights out by half-past two. So long as the kids are responsible, there is liquor in the cabinets and an endless variety of snacks for them to consume. 

Mels grabs the first bottle, something which to her surprise contains 60% alcohol by volume, and she grabs also a trio of plastic cups from one of the cabinets (for the  _ last  _ thing they need is to deal with broken glass), into each of which she pours a generous serving of liquor. For her, drinking makes it easier to sleep. Fewer nightmares, less anxiety, and an all-over warm feeling, something akin to  _ comfort,  _ settle over her, and for a few brief moments she isn’t someone who suffered abuse and programming to become a murderer, she just  _ is. _

She downs her own drink (from the  _ green  _ cup) before refilling it---the last thing she needs is Amy and Rory worrying about her alcohol consumption when she  _ wants  _ them to worry about  _ each other _ \---and then she calls out, not trusting herself to balance three cups  _ and  _ the bottle. Amy joins her, grabs two of the glasses, and bounces from the room, singing something in her Scottish lilt. 

During these gatherings, Rory always drinks the least, Mels sneaks a few when no one is looking, and Amy becomes louder and more boisterous, telling jokes and singing songs and pulling both of them into random dances around the room. 

Another staple of these sleepovers is that Brian checks in on them twice: once, just before lights-out, and a second time while they’re asleep, to make sure they’ve plenty of blankets and pillows and that none of them have gotten sick in the middle of the night. Never, except when asleep, has he seen Mels so relaxed. Normally, behind her carefree exterior, she appears  _ afraid;  _ she skirts around the truth, telling him that her parents are off doing work for the government (or for a secret agency), or that they’re away on vacation ( _ without  _ her?), or (once) she tells him something  _ close  _ to the truth: that her foster parents are cold and distant and are close to giving up on her if she continues getting into trouble.

She wanted to laugh at them when they said that; her  _ real  _ parents still care, still show up to bail her out and drive her home, still make sure she has enough food and somewhere warm and safe to sleep, and never has she felt comfortable referring to her foster parents as anything other than their names.

Amy settles down on a pile of pillows and hands Rory his drink, which he sniffs at curiously before asking, “what  _ is _ this?”

“Vodka?” Mels asks, shrugging. “I dunno, it was a clear bottle and  _ your  _ dad gave us full permission to have  _ anything---” _

“Yeah, yeah,” Rory shakes his hand dismissively before taking a cautious sip.

Amy downs half her drink in one go before yelping. “I want to watch a  _ film,”  _ she says, setting her cup down beside her. “Something… hm. What do you think?” this she directs towards Mels, who merely shrugs, and so she turns towards Rory and repeats her question.

“Uh, well--you know that book we read in English a while back?  _ Pride and Prejudice?  _ Dad and I watched it together the other day, and---”

“Period romance? Those are  _ so  _ overdone,” Mels says with a roll of her eyes. “Amy,  _ please---” _

Amy stares at Rory for a long moment, long enough for a flush to creep over his cheeks, and she takes another sip of her drink before saying, “y’know,  _ I  _ think it sounds  **_interesting,_ ** actually. Grab the disc and Mels and I will grab snacks,” Amy stands, wobbling slightly on her feet, and holds a hand out towards Mels.

The girls walk back into the kitchen and Mels opens the fridge while Amy rummages through the cabinets, pulling out first a bag of pretzels before noticing a package of biscuits and grabbing those, too. “Y’know, Rory  _ always _ has good snacks,” she says, turning towards Mels, who has three bottles of water in her arms. “Ah. Smart idea, that. Need to stay hydrated… why’s it  _ called  _ that?” she asks, her features scrunching. “ _ Hydration… _ ”

Mels laughs. “Look at you! Half a drink and you’re nearly gone…”

Amy gasps and shakes her head, saying, “am  _ nae!  _ C’mon now,” she slurs, turns, and walks back into the sitting room to find Rory fiddling with the DVD player, turning on captions and adjusting the audio to a comfortable level. 

“How long is this?” Amy asks, settling back in among the blankets and pillows, and she tosses the biscuits at Rory before popping open the bag of pretzels.

“Bit over two hours,” Rory replies before pressing ‘play’ on the remote. “I can’t imagine us getting through all of this, though, given how strong the drinks  _ you  _ poured us are,” he gives Mels a pointed look.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to, but you  _ should  _ drink all of  **_this,_ ** _ ”  _ she tosses one of the water bottles at Rory, who startles as it lands on the floor, and another at Amy, who catches it without blinking.

“Thanks, Mels,” Rory says sheepishly, taking up the bottle of water.

They fall quiet as the movie starts, though Amy occasionally turns towards Rory to ask about what’s going on and Mels watches the pair of them rather that the film; she could always go back and watch it later, but seeing her parents joking and laughing and having fun is something sacred, and she takes in every second as if it’s air, vital for life and her sole reason for living.

Her parents: close enough to  _ touch,  _ but too far removed from having a child, from being married and travelling and loving and  _ losing,  _ and Mels hides a smile as Amy shifts closer to Rory until her head is on his shoulder and his arm is wrapped around her. They fall asleep halfway through the movie and Mels tiptoes around them to turn it off before cleaning up the mess of dishes and snacks, and she stops at the sink, braces her hands against it, and shuts her eyes against a wave of nausea. 

“Just a few more years,” she tells herself, shutting off the light. “The Raggedy Man _will_ return---I **_know_** he will, and then---” she shakes her head and the nausea worsens. **_Don’t_** _do_ ** _that,_** she tells herself, and she sinks down slowly before curling up in one corner of their fort, pressing a pillow to her chest.

Her parents, curled up together, exhausted from the alcohol, don’t wake when Mels starts crying in her sleep.

The suit--- _ always,  _ that  **_damned_ ** suit---and the vague feeling of being watched---and no matter how much she screamed and kicked and punched, the suit would overtake her, forcing her into it, forcing her----she wakes up screaming and Amy and Rory finally stir. 

“Y’ alrigh’?” Amy slurs. “Nigh’mare?”

“I’m  _ fine,”  _ Mels snaps dismissively. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mels--” Rory stretches a hand towards her in the dark, but she pulls away and stands up.

“Go back to  _ sleep,  _ Rory. I’m going out for air.”

Before either of them can respond, Mels slips out of the room and out the back door, into the small yard where a young tree stands (Rory and his mum had planted it, shortly after she had gotten sick; it was  _ theirs,  _ Rory had once said, and seeing it reminded both him and his dad of her, of her love for nature and her even stronger love of life), and she sinks down into the grass, curls her legs against her chest, and cries.

She doesn’t notice Brian approaching.

He sinks down beside her in the grass and gently asks, “Mels? Is….is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

“No,” her voice is muffled. “I---”

He places a hand on her shoulder and says, “come here. It’s alright if you don’t want to talk, but you  _ clearly  _ need a hug…”

After a moment, she shifts, wraps her arms around him, and says, “thanks, gra---Brian. For---for everything. For being there for me, even though it’s difficult--”

“Hey,” he tells her, pulling back. “You’ll  _ always  _ have a home here, Mels. No matter what.”

They sit under the stars for a while, letting the night wash over them.


End file.
